Electrician wins custom bike built by Carman-Ainsworth students

Eighth grader Dena Manns draws the winning ticket Thursday for a custom motorcycle built in a school fundraiser by Carman-Ainsworth Middle School students. Teri Banas/ Flint Journal

FLINT TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- After a flurry of ticket sales from last-minute hopefuls on Thursday, the V-twin, 110-cubic inch custom motorcycle built by Carman-Ainsworth Middle School students went to a Montrose man employed at the GM Truck Plant.

The raffle was staged to raise money for the district’s after-school enrichment program. Program director Michele Olney called Biggs on her cell phone in the lobby of the school, where a small crowd had gathered, to give him the news.

“You’re the winner of the custom-made motorcycle built by Carman-Ainsworth students,” she said into her phone.

Turning to the group, she then laughed that he almost hung up on her because he didn’t recognize the number and was in an electrician’s meeting at the time.

The silver, gray and black bike was built from a kit and in an after-school program staffed by eight middle school students and supervised by Olney’s husband, Jeff Olney.

Olney drove it up to the school one last time before the drawing. “It’s almost like I had a baby and now I have to give it away,” Jeff Olney said.